The Phillies situation is less promising than the Red Sox: First, the guys they are counting on to improve are in their mid-30's while the guys the Red Sox were counting on were in their late-20's. Second, they need to make wise choices in free agency, something that has not been their forte as of late.

What a wet blanket, right? What do you think Red Sox fans were saying in 2012, anyway? I'll tell you: They were saying that the Sox were finished.

Andrew Cohen's April 22, 2012 piece in The Atlantic declared last rites over the Red Sox: "Brothers and sisters of Red Sox Nation, it is time. And someone's got to say it. So I come before you today to bury a particularly notable version of our beloved team."

Cohen was right about 2012, but a year later the Red Sox had won another title.

So the Phillies can mope around and curse others' luck, or they can get put a proper plan together and do something about the franchise's fortunes.

Here are five pieces the Phillies could move to turn the team's momentum forward again.

Domonic Brown

The Phillies need to decide, as soon as possible, whether Domonic Brown is the player they saw in 2013 (27 home runs, 83 runs batted in, first All-Star appearance) or whether he is actually still the player who, before 2013, had never hit better than .245 in any major league season.

If the Phillies believe in Brown and think his ceiling is even higher, then they should hang on to him.

But if the Phillies are not absolutely convinced of this, now is the time to move Brown because his trade value is not apt to get much higher than it is now.

Brown is not eligible for arbitration until 2015 and made $500,000.00 last season.

A young All-Star making so little money is a real commodity in Major League Baseball.

Maikel Franco

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Maikel Franco's bat earned him a lot of notice in 2013, a season he split between High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. Franco won the Phillies' Paul Owens Award for player of the year in the minor leagues.

Franco's power won him the award, as he posted a .936 OPS and 68 extra-base hits.

The trouble the Phillies will have with Franco is what to do with him in the field. Franco ended the season playing first base at Reading. The Phillies already have at least $85 million over the next four years sunk into Ryan Howard at first base.

Franco has also played a fair amount of third base in the minor leagues, but no one will ever confuse Franco with Mike Schmidt from a fielding perspective. And his build, at least when I saw him in Reading in August, was more Pablo Sandoval than David Wright.

Franco would seem to be nearly irresistible to an American League team that could deploy him as a designated hitter on the days they do not need him in the field.

Jimmy Rollins is no real obstacle to either player, as his deal is set to expire at the end of 2014. By the time Crawford or Quinn is ready to start, Rollins will be a part-time player and/or will have moved on.

But the Phillies do not need two stud shortstop prospects if trading one of them can address other needs.

As a final point, I am not advocating trading Maikel Franco, Jesse Biddle or Crawford (or even Quinn for that matter).

An honest assessment of what the Phillies have to trade that other teams might value, though, compels their inclusion on this list.